November 6, 2006 at 21:30:19

GIVE US THE WORD

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By Sheila Samples (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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Lost. Wide-eyed. Silent.
Crouching in the far corner
Waiting for The Word.

October was a bitch, the fourth deadliest month of the war, with the official count of slain "troops" at 109. Even pro-war New York Senator Hillary Clinton was relieved that it was finally over. Before launching into the politics of the war, Clinton remarked on Nov. l -- "In human terms, this has been a horrible month." November is also off to a grisly start, if you consider it in human terms, with 18 US deaths recorded in the first six days.

Some Americans turn off the media at the end of the day and drift off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that things are boffo in Iraq -- getting better day by day. The rest of us jerk the cords from our computers and pace the floor in anguished frustration, bruised by the knowledge that America's sons and daughters are being blown to bits, felled by snipers' bullets at that very moment. Perhaps that is because the only sane way to look at a war is in human terms...

We are awake now, and we must never forget what George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Michael Ledeen, Michael Chertoff, John Negroponte, and so many other players and pundits, with the help of the corporate media and the entire Republican congress, have done, all of which is miniscule compared to what they plan to do if left unchecked. Never in our 230-year history has this nation been in such peril.

We know America was founded with a foreordained mission to protect personal liberty and freedom and basic inalienable rights of its citizens. We know that the unelected George Bush despises the US Constitution, has called it just a "G**damn piece of paper," and has granted himself the power to take away our freedoms protected by that piece of paper. Bush is the Decider -- the Commander in Chief -- and he can do whatever he damn well pleases to whomever he damn well pleases, whenever he damn well pleases..

And he can do this -- because we let him.

Lips fixed to ear. Yo.
Is anybody in there?
I need The Word. Damn.

We know we are all that stand between George Bush and the ransacking of this great nation -- affordable medicines and health care for senior citizens, the future of Social Security and Medicare, the environment, corporate reforms, a spiriling deficit, jobs... We are the only ones who can prevent further deregulation of business, who can prevent our domestic policies being manipulated in favor of corporations and the wealthy. We must not wake up the day after the elections and realize -- too late -- that we failed to vote when "Democracy" was the single most important issue on the ballot.

We must not allow our glorious Flag to become our funeral shroud by cynically refusing to vote. We must not give the jackals in the White House carte blanche to establish martial "order" or to destroy our our freedoms -- our way of life. Sure, we're going to have problems at the polls.

The Republicans learned a trick in Florida in 2000; it worked for them in 2002 and again in 2004, and they're determined to repeat it in 2006 and 2008 in every state across this country. Because the only way they can win is to convince Democrats that their vote is useless. They know they cannot fix enough e-voting machines to counter a massive wave of Democratic voters.

According to investigative reporter, Greg Palast, that's what it's going to take. Palast's investigation reveals that Republican operatives will succeed in suppressing or tossing out about 4.5-million votes, or 5 percent of those cast for Democratic candidates. Palast says, "get over it," and go for a winning 55 percent rather than the 51 percent it should take to legally win an election.

We have awakened to 2,125 days of hopelessness and despair. It's time to put a stop to this madness. We have reached the "end of the day." When we open our eyes on November 8, our first thought will be -- this is the first day of the best years of our lives. Because the word we have sought for so long is -- Victory.

Finally -- the feast.
Munching, crunching, savoring.
The Word. VICTORY!

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**A series of my heartfelt haiku pleadings with SF Chronicle's peerless Mark Morford to reinstate his "Daily Word" wherein he gave definitions of words as well as a "usage example," which featured the frighteningly fantastic foibles of Lynne Cheney. An example...

"== THE DAILY WORD ==
It's almost like learning something

conenose\'kon-'noz\ noun (ca. 1891) Any of various large blood-sucking bugs and esp. some assassin bugs (genus Triatoma) including some capable of inflicting painful bites

Usage example: Like a drunken swarm of teething screeching winged conenose did the GOP swoop into power as their hordes of bored, rich, old white men ripped off their shirts and smeared war paint on their boil-crusted chests and proceeded to dance on the hopes and dreams and peace-craving souls of millions of misguided citizens, as Lynne Cheney twitched and giggled in horrific ecstacy."
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Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.